Federal, state probes ongoing

Names of rangers involved have not been released

KETTLE FALLS  The Washington State Patrol and National Park Service Investigative Services Bureau are continuing their investigations into a shooting at Kettle River Campground northwest of town in Ferry County.

One man was injured and another was jailed after the ranger-involved shooting Sept. 14 at the campground on the Kettle River.

Casey Hartinger, 43, Kettle Falls, was shot by an unnamed National Park Service ranger and was treated at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. He was released Sept. 16.

Hartinger was injured in an altercation on a houseboat moored at the campground. Houseboat owner Michael J. Sublie, 41, also of Kettle Falls and apparently a friend of Hartinger, appeared in U.S. District Court in Spokane on suspicion of interfering with a government employee and creating unreasonable noise.

Magistrate Judge John T. Rodgers ordered him released without bond.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court indicate a park ranger was shoved off the houseboat’s gangplank.

National Park Service spokeswoman Jaime Smith said the names of the two rangers involved have not been released because the investigation is ongoing.

“I do not have a time frame for when they will be released,” she said Monday. “Since the investigation of the incident is still under way, I do not have a more detailed synopsis of what happened at this time.”

Washington State Patrol spokesman Trooper Jeff Sevigney said last week the names of the officers are not being released because the investigation is ongoing.

He could not be reached for additional comment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Spokane declined to comment.

Right after the incident, the patrol said the rangers were patrolling the campground, which is on the Kettle River off U.S. Highway 395 about six miles north of the intersection